FOLEY BACK IN FOLD
Fresh off a 30-15 home win over the Roughriders, the Lions announced Sunday that they’ve signed defensive end Ricky Foley for the rest of the season
The B.C. Lions and Ricky Foley are back in business.
Fresh off a 30-15 home victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Lions announced Sunday morning they’ve signed the defensive end for the remainder of the 2017 season.
Foley, always colourful, outspoken and definitely quotable, played four years with the Lions from 2006 to 2009, before heading east to his hometown Argos in 2010. He’s won the Grey Cup three times, in 2006 with the Lions, 2012 with Toronto and 2013 with Saskatchewan.
His last season with the Leos was spectacular: he was the league’s Most Outstanding Canadian after making 47 tackles and a dozen sacks. That coincided with the departure of defensive dynamo Cam Wake to the Miami Dolphins.
He’s 35, so he won’t have quite the wheels he once did, but clearly Wally Buono thinks the veteran can bring some extra pressure on opposing quarterbacks from the outside: the Leos have only managed 13 sacks so far on the season, putting them fifth in the league.
There’s also the added factor of DeQuin Evans’ back injury, which kept him out of the lineup Saturday night against the Riders.
And, of course, you can’t ignore the positive impact he’ll make on the team’s Canadians vs. International ratio. A Canadian who can play is never a bad thing.
After Foley’s breakout 2009 performance with the Lions, he had NFL workouts with the Seahawks and the Jets but didn’t stick down south. Instead he landed back home in Toronto, although he initially seemed to have made an agreement to come back to Vancouver. Instead spurned them in favour a chance to play on the shores of Lake Ontario. Foley grew up on a family farm in Courtice, Ont., about 60 kilometres east of Toronto.
He thanked Buono at the time for his understanding. The coach said, at least publicly, that he understood.
Originally a decathlete, Foley went to York University on a track scholarship. His size and speed drew the attention of the football coach and the rest is, of course, history.
Foley played three seasons for the Boatmen — and won a Grey Cup in his last season — before moving to Saskatchewan in 2013, where he helped the Riders win the Grey Cup.
In 2015, he returned east to the Argos, making 48 tackles and six sacks as a 33 year old. He slowed some last year, recording just 24 tackles. In March, he was released via text message, a day before he was to earn a roster bonus. The team wanted to re-structure his contract but Foley wasn’t interested.
According to the Lions, Foley will make his practice debut on Wednesday, ahead of the Lions game next Sunday, the back end of a home-and-home series with in Regina against the Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium.